Introducing Chocolate’s Baby shop! You can find it here: www.chocolatesbabyshop.etsy.com I started it to put all the baby items in since I had so many. Now I am adding these super cute baby hats and blankets to the shop in the week ahead.
I also have some cute baby bibs and will be adding some taggies and possibly some baby shoes as well.
Talk to you later,
Karen
It appears that my plans can change in 5 minutes or the length of time it takes the Dr. to say you may have torn your tendon. So, I am no longer looking forward to sewing for the comic con as I was thinking of doing. I can always do the comic con later. The good news is that I will get a lot of time sitting with my foot up which is always good for the crocheted items in the shop! I have been working on some little things but I will surprise you with them next week.
My family cleaned the flower beds out for me this past week. They worked hard as the beds had been neglected over the past year.
Here you can see the rose bush and the sage that grow by the front door. We need to put some weed blocker down and then cover it in mulch in an effort to cut down on the grass growing back. I had a lovely package yesterday that was exciting and cheerful at the same time. I received these beautiful yarns in the mail from my friend Rose. Rose does lots of fancy knitting and these are (probably) a small part of her destash. They are all shades of brown and orange and I can hardly wait to get started on them. I have some ideas and they are percolating while I work on some other little things.
Talk to you later,
Karen
Looking back at this challenge. I would say that it has helped me think outside the box. I had to get out of my comfort zone in my sewing and forced me to finish some mending projects. I finished a bunch of things in a short period of time. Â I forced myself to use what I had on hand to fill my shop. It was good for me as it pushed me to create new and different things. It was an incredibly freeing experience to
Here they all are!
See you later,
Karen
This is the final post of 100 items in 100 days!
I finally caught up with myself and I finished these items for the 100 items in 100 days.
Lavender and rice pocket warmers or relaxation hearts, or hot or cold pads. These are pretty much for whatever you need them to be. They are filled with rice and lavender buds. You could also put the in the dryer for freshly scented clothes.
I finally finished up these non paper paper towels. I have had them cut out for ages and they just needed to be sewn.
So there you go the last two items that I needed to post to really be officially finished.
Talk to you later,
Karen
Here is the previous post on this challenge:Â http://www.chocolatedogstudio.com/2014/04/01/april-fools/
and the post before that:Â http://www.chocolatedogstudio.com/2014/02/05/progress/
Just in case… you ever really wanted a Chocolate Dog Studio cup cozy or French Press cozy, but didn’t want to pay shipping. You can now buy one here in TULSA! I’m so excited. Chocolate Dog Studio cup sleeves are consigned for sale at the New Java Dave’s, at the Farm Shopping center.
Stop by and say ChocolateDogStudio sent you!
talk to you later,
Karen
This is a quick view of the daffodils in my front yard. I don’t remember them looking this beautiful in years. We are not going to look at the weeds in the grass. We have been really busy raising kids so weeds have crept in over the years. 
It is a busy day today.
So I will  see you later,
Karen
It has been a frustrating week and I tend to hit one of these fairly frequently. My creativity seems to hit a slump and my ability does well. I  have been working on using up my stash and part of that was to finish a crochet blanket I started about 10 years ago. I thought I had finished it way back when. It is a lovely green, white, yellow and blue blanket that I use in the studio when I wake up too early. It was not big enough to be warm and cozy. So, I have started adding to it with my stash yarns. I finished it once and the ends were definitely not the same width by about 12 inches.This is a  huge difference, and it looks gathered. I changed crochet hook sizes and went up to my largest hook, and it is still not even. Now I will need to count stitches and see if I have dropped stitches off the ends of the blanket. It is only about 4 inches difference now so dropping stitches might be the answer. Turns out I had dropped about ten stitches so I added those back in and the width turned out just right. I used up a bunch of little balls of yarn and some larger ones as well. It isn’t the most beautiful blanket I have ever made but it is incredibly soft which more than makes up for it’s homely appearance.
See you later,
Karen
Another installment of items sewn from stash fabrics. I love these coffee press cozies. They are one of a kind and look so cheerful and happy.
Here are items 77- 83!
Two pillowcases in pink and purple. I love these as I was learning how to do French seams. They are great, but I think we will use them at home instead of putting them in the shop. I also made a  pillowcase in a brown stripe fabric but it has already been used. So these will be numbers 77, 78, 79
I crocheted four pot holders with a fifth in the works.
The blue and yellow one and the blue, red and yellow stripe are both crocheted out of wool. The pink multicolor is crocheted out of acrylic yarn.
So these are numbers… 80, 81, 82, 83
There are only 17 items left to create. I have some more coffee press cozies in the works along with more quilted pot holders. These items all use stash fabrics so I can’t wait to show them to you and get them marked off the list.
I have been fighting a cold all week and the weekend looks really full so It may still be a week or two before I am finished with this challenge.
I have had some requests for crochet patterns, and help on some granny squares. I will see what I can do on those. It has been and will be an incredibly busy spring. We are preparing for a graduation and the college girl moving back home and probably back out as she heads off on a summer job.
Talk to you later,
Karen
This week I drive our daughter to sewing lessons at a local sewing machine shop all week. I am going to be fighting temptation all week as this shop is located near a major fabric/craft store and also near some other fun stores that I never get to browse. The sewing class is three hours long, not quite long enough for me to drive home and get anything done. The drive is just long enough to make me think twice about the drive in addition to the spending money on gas. I do need some supplies in the worst way. While I could, should and probably will wait this week is going to be a huge test of my will power.
I am only 24 items from the end of the challenge and I am wondering if I can really make it that long without some critical supplies. I do have 6 additional items completed and four partially completed. If I add that to what I have already finished it brings me down to 14 items! I am ready for the challenge to be finished. The four partially completed include some crochet blankets, and a quilt.
I started this as an exercise in procrastination. I have several blankets started and this one just jumped out for me to work on. I don’t normally work with wool at this time of year but the large skeins of yarn were calling to me. So I started this great scrap blanket.
 Here is the other thing I was procrastinating on, basting this quilt. I am now about 1/2 way done. Oh, and the shopping thing, today I passed with flying colors. I didn’t buy anything at all! Yeah!
Talk to you later,
Karen